Assume that all titles are Blu-ray and DVD unless otherwise noted.
Nicholas Roeg gets his second Criterion Blu treatment
Release of the Week - Catalog New to Blu
Walkabout (The Criterion Collection)
Spine number 10 gets the HD treatment this week, and as expected, it's a substantial AV improvement over one of the older discs still in Criterion's library. We know that Seven Samurai is due for release later this year from an Amazon slip-up, but I hope we also see other early spine numbers get Blu-graded, like The Lady Vanishes, Amarcord, Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast, Sam Fuller's The Naked Kiss & Shock Corridor, and (gulp) maybe even Salo. It appears as though Criterion may be trying to evenly balance how many older spines get the upgrade treatment with more recent, big-ticket titles that they know they can make money on. The Blu-ray market is still maturing, and I think they're doing this the right way, so I'm satisfied to wait.
Release of the Week - New Release Movie
The Messenger
Among a ton of excellent performances in Woody Harrelson's filmography, this movie features one of his best.
Release of the Week - Catalog Movie New to Disc
Gamera: The Giant Monster (DVD only)
The Godzilla-competing Gamera series was lampooned like crazy on Mystery Science Theater 3000. This release from Shout!Factory finds the movie unedited and properly-restored for the first time on home video in the US.
Release of the Week - Catalog TV
21 Jump Street Season 2
I'm celebrating this one explicitly in honor of the music rights for this show being cleared (on top of whatever maneuverings Depp may have gone through to block it from being seen again).
Movie New Releases
American Radical: Trials of Norman Finkelstein
A documentary on the struggles of Professor Finkelstein thanks to his repudiation of the findings in From Time Immemorial, a pro-Israel, anti-Palestine book. He was denied tenure at DePaul University thanks to this. This is one of those fascinating stories about academia doing damage to itself in reaction to actual scholarship.
Invictus
I'm watching this one later in the week, and am willing to give it a fair shake.
Valentine's Day
I'll have a couple of paragraphs on this train wreck later today. I should start a series on terribly-executed romantic comedies. On second thought, no I shouldn't (too much work).
Extraordinary Measures
I honestly thought this was the biggest-budget Lifetime movie in history.
The Spy Next Door
Jackie Chan deserves better than this, but US studios don't know what to do with him other than crap like this.
The New Daughter
This Costner-starrer was barely released, and only due to contractual obligations.
Catalog Movies New to Disc
The Navy vs. the Night Monsters (1966)
I can't wait to see this. Amazon is already Out of Stock, and it's $11.49.
Eclipse 21: Oshima's Outlaw Sixities
Pleasures of the Flesh
Violence at Noon
Sing a Song of Sex
Japanese Summer: Double Suicide
Three Resurrected Drunkards
Just look at those titles. Oshima's cinema is not a world I'm familiar with, but I wish I had the time to explore it. This Eclipse set is on my tremendously long list of "things to catch up with".
Catalog New to Blu
Carlito's Way
This looks great, and is worth grabbing if you love the movie.
Outlander
Released on DVD last year.
9 Songs
This movie features stiff, wooden acting, with actual on-screen sex, but it's not porn. How does that work?
Reissue/Repackaging
Louis L'Amour Western Collection
The Sacketts
Conagher
Catlow
I reviewed Catlow last year and will have something on this new set later in the week.
TV New Releases
The Jeff Dunham Show
I really hate this "comic", his act, and his show. At first, I just sort of disliked him, but then I watched part of this set and I've now upgraded to full-on hatred. More on this poisonous opportunist later.
Law & Order Criminal Intent Season 5
It has a subtitle, so you know that it hasn't been cancelled (yet!).
Dragon Ball Z Kai Season 1 Part 1
In honor of a 20-year anniversary, Toei has re-cut and edited down their mega-successful anime into a leaner, meaner thing. I was recently introduced to the original, unedited version of the show by my wife. We picked up the first of the Dragon Box releases that Funimation started releasing last fall. Hours in, I can say that the original version does drag, loaded with lengthy, repetitive recaps.
Catalog TV
30 Days Complete Series
The Greatest American Hero Complete Series